The Albanese government is resisting a Senate inquiry’s recommendation to delay the teen social media ban by six months to iron out compliance issues and educate young people on the changes.
Instead, Labor senators say the ban will go ahead in two weeks and the government is comfortable relying on age assurance technology that “may not be perfect”.
The Opposition does not want to delay the ban either but says the government has failed to prepare the community for the world first changes.
A public awareness campaign only began last month and more platforms were being added as recently as last week.
From December 10, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Reddit will be required to take “reasonable steps” to stop under 16-year-olds from holding accounts, with most planning to rely on age assurance technologies.
A three-month Senate inquiry into the ban and changes to internet search regulations that will also usher in age assurance found “serious concerns” about an implementation approach that could “meaningfully undermine” how effective the new rules are.
The committee was also concerned about unintended consequences like driving young Australians to less safe platforms or the removal of age-appropriate controls for young account holders like blocking direct messages.
Socially isolated young people could also be especially hard hit by what the committee found has been an inadequate education and awareness campaigns from the government.
“The committee recommends the implementation of the Social Media Minimum Age obligation be delayed until 10 June 2026 to allow for the issues in implementation and compliance to be properly considered and an education campaign for young people affected to be rolled out,” the inquiry report says.
In dissenting comments, Labor senators on the committee rejected the idea of a delay.
Despite platforms being added to the ban as recently as last week, the Labor Senators said the companies have had more than 12 months to prepare since enabling laws passed last year.
The Labor Senators, Varun Ghosh and Charlotte Walker, added that while age assurance technologies like estimating a user’s age through a short video or image “may not be perfect” and may require “review and adjustment”, they are “an important tool” for online safety.
The government senators also agreed with another of the committee’s recommendation to legislate a digital duty of care – something that is already under way – but noted the recommendation to legislate against platform companies harvesting young people’s data.
“… The [Social Media Minimum Age] obligation will significantly reduce the ability of social media companies to harvest and exploit the data of minors and young people,” the Labor senators wrote.
Opposition senators lashed Labor’s “implementation failures” but said “this does not justify delaying the commencement date which would cause further confusion and uncertainty”.
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